Burning Ashfall
by Infinity's Glow
Summary: Cruel and full with animosity, Kurama attempts to raise his nephew to become the next Kyuubi before the Uchiha clan undermines his ruling of the Underworld. Eventual Naruto x Sasuke. AU.


A/N: I had this idea developing in my head for a while, so I started to write out what came to me. I know the first chapter is short, but it's just a prologue of how Kurama meets his darling little nephew. I think their relationship will be interesting, such as it is in the manga.

The pairing will definitely be Naruto x Sasuke, but it will progress slowly.

I don't own Naruto.

Warnings: Dark themes, adult language, mentions of death

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Prologue

A growl was heard in the distance. It belonged to an unfriendly face, chiseled with deadly features. His fiery auburn locks were long, unruly and uncontrollable. The slits of his velvet eyes narrowed down to the baby before him. The youthful cries of it scorched his ears, he wanted nothing more than to tear it's mouth apart with his sharp claws. The thought of it gave the demon a gleeful shiver.

The infant reminded him too much of a certain holy being that he couldn't believe it came out of his equally as ruthless sibling.

Kushina was his sister, a redheaded spitfire that carried on the Uzumaki demon lineage. She mated with Minato, a golden embodiment of perfection and everything good in the world. A Namikaze seraph, whose sole purpose is to keep away hellish creatures from causing too much chaos in the mortal world.

Kurama intensely scorned Minato.

He never understood how it happened. Kushina herself vowed that she would be the one to kill him. It was a ritual for demons to take down spirits of the Maker, and her victim was the highest ranked. She failed her mission.

When Kurama was claimed Kyuubi, a title of power, he knew something was off about her. Smiles were becoming less malicious, her antics more sinless, her eyes shined with virtue. The two siblings got into a dangerous fight after he noticed the fact and deemed her unworthy as his sister. That she outlived her usefulness. Their intent to kill received nasty scars in the aftermath. Even after surviving, they never contacted each other again.

The news of her bearing an angel's child made the demonic world explode with anger. The treacherous act weakened Kurama's ruling, anticipating that he too will turn to the other side. It made his blood boil. Feeling the need to end it once and for all, he hunted out for his kin. He was blinded with rage that the idea of ending her life sounded enticing.

Childbirth beat him to it.

He found her lying on the ground dead, Minato nowhere to be seen. She holds her baby almost tenderly that Kurama snarled with sickness. This isn't Kushina. It was a brainwashed vessel for Minato's offspring. He corrupted her.

Kurama inspected the noisy nuisance with a hard expression. The baby felt too holy, no traces of his mother - hair so blond and bright that the heavens ached. He resembled Minato so much that the itchy urge to destroy it was becoming unbearable. Poking its chubby cheek, the Kyuubi smirked eagerly.

It opened its eyes. The bluest of blue like he expected, but he saw much more than that. Beneath those eyes was a killer ready to be born. Kurama felt a surge of power, an aura of monstrosity under the innocence. This boy was an Uzumaki and he felt it.

The mixture of good and evil, although unstable, can be trained to become more of the other. It was rare, the circumstances were rare, but Kushina was a fool in his eyes. Kurama picked up his nephew almost roughly and the crying stopped instantly. A curious look on the young face.

"Rest easy, kid. I can see your potential. You will become my successor, but first..." His talons were careful not to damage the newly birthed body, "You will learn to reject your father's disgusting powers." His response was a tug on the hair and a bubbly laugh.

"Why you little shit..." He scrunched up his face with irritation, but the joyful look on the baby's equally whiskered face did not falter. He played with his uncle's hair, memorized with the color.

And even if Kurama was endlessly annoyed, he couldn't deny that there was some sort of familial instinct. Not to protect, but something akin to that.


End file.
